sweatsciences
Before you change your salt

Take your numbers to your clinician.

If you have high blood pressure, a heart or kidney condition, are pregnant, or take a water pill or a blood-pressure medicine, the calculator's number is a question to ask, not a dose to start. This makes a one-page sheet with your numbers and the questions to bring.

If it is happening now, call 911. Confusion, a worsening headache, vomiting, a seizure or collapse during or soon after a long effort needs emergency care. Do not give more water. Why: exercise hyponatremia.

Make your sheet.

1. Your training numbers (per session)

No numbers yet? Get them from the calculator (about a minute), then press "Take it to my clinician" under your result.

2. Which of these apply to you? (tick any)

Your ticks only choose which questions go on the sheet. They are not saved, not put in the address, and not sent anywhere.

My training electrolytes: questions for my clinician

Questions to ask

    Numbers are estimates from the SweatSciences calculator (population averages unless measured with a before-and-after weigh-in). They are not a prescription. Your clinician decides what fits you.

    Back to the calculator

    How this works. Everything happens in this page on your device. Numbers can arrive in the link from the calculator (numbers only); nothing else is read, saved or sent. No account. This is education, not medical advice.

    Why ask first.

    Sodium. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 mg a day, with an optimal 1,500 mg for most adults, and says the 1,500 mg goal may not apply to people who lose big amounts of sodium in sweat, such as competitive athletes. Which one applies to you, with your blood pressure, heart or kidneys, is the clinician's call.

    Potassium. The mix uses potassium chloride. NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements notes that people with chronic kidney disease, and people taking ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers or potassium-sparing diuretics, can develop too much potassium in the blood (hyperkalemia).

    Magnesium. The adult upper limit for magnesium from supplements is 350 mg a day unless a health care provider recommends more (NIH ODS).

    Sources, checked 2026-09-29:

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